Reuters finds the PLA testing humanoid robots for combat

Reuters published an investigation on 7 September 2026, bylined Eduardo Baptista from Beijing, based on a review of more than 100 Chinese military procurement notices, academic studies, patents, official publications, government records and defence-company materials. The records it describes were previously unreported.

The dated items are specific. In May 2025 the People’s Liberation Army issued a tender to buy a humanoid robot, including installation and technical training. A September 2025 notice sought an “embodied humanoid robot intelligent perception and dexterous operation system”, with a contact at the National University of Defence Technology. In June 2026 the PLA budgeted roughly $300,000 for a system to collect and label camera, radar and motion data for humanoids. An August 2025 paper from NUDT modelled an urban assault using six combat robots working with ground troops, and projected availability in five to ten years.

Reuters states it found no evidence that China has deployed an armed humanoid with an operational PLA unit. The robots remain power-hungry and insufficiently reliable for a real battlefield. What the documents show is procurement and study, which is how a capability starts — and the industrial base is already there: BofA Global Research puts Chinese manufacturers at about 95 per cent of global humanoid shipments in 2025.